Hunger games after the games!
by beautyswift
Summary: This is not a chapter story. Just a short story of Katniss s and Peetas life together after the games! : CHARACTERS BELONG TO SUSAN COLLINS.


**After the Hunger Games **

I look deeply into the sunset as I remember how valuable those were. The sun's bright vibrant rays reminded me of Cinna and how much I missed having him in my life. His soft touch getting me ready for the terror I was about to face. I always believed he was the reason I won the Hunger games. Him holding my hand, making me look beautiful even when so many people thought a miracle would happen before I was in the category of pretty. Cinna also brought nightmares to my once normal dreams. The horrid visual of the peacekeepers punching and slashing at him had made me sick to my stomach. Gale always said he was a hero and reason for me becoming the victor of the games. Well, that's what he said before he left me.

A soft kiss comes upon my lips from Peeta and I smile and realize that I was day dreaming. An extremely unusual thing for me. I always lived by the theory that if I day dream I will scare everyone around me. Just the thought of my pale face in shock as I think of all the people I have killed, how much blood I have seen and my sister getting blown up into little pieces before my very eyes scares the hell out of me. Peeta smiles his beautiful smile and asks if I want to go for a walk with him when the kids take there nap. I accept.

"I love you, you know that right?"

I blush a deep red and kiss him. 'Yes I do."

Peeta was always the one there for me. Even before Gale. The look on his face when I had gotten hurt at school from me being my clumsy self was reassuring. Gale would always tell me those falls would make me stronger for hunting. Make me ready to kill without having fear or hesitation. He told me that that's why he never helped me. I always thought he said that because he was a few years older and he wouldn't dare risking him looking stupid by helping me. Turns out I was right.

Peeta and I walk onto the beach and I didn't stop looking at him. Couldn't stop smiling at the fact that he was mine. All mine. No one to tell me what I should or shouldn't do. When I was in the hunger games everyone would tell me Gale was right for me. Same grey eyes and pasty skin. Even my own mother told me what to feel. Who are they to tell me I can't love the boy who saved my damn life? But I didn't care; Gale was selfish leaving me when I needed him most. So why exactly should I give him the time of day?

"Peeta, can I ask you something?" I hesitate. "Of course" he replies with a small smile creeping across his face. "When did you start loving me again? I know I asked you this in the arena but I want to hear it again."

He gives me a small chuckle and pulls me into him "I started loving you from the very first moment I laid eyes on you. Your hair was in two braids instead of one and you had that voice of an angel that made my heart melt"

"Oh yes, I do remember that story" I say with a soft giggle. He pulls me in closer and I wrap my hands around his neck as I kiss him passionately. He puts his hands around my waist feeling my body hinting at me if that was okay to do. It was. His hands pulling me into him and I haven't felt safer in my whole entire life. Right here. Right now. He was mine and I was his and nothing else really mattered. Whenever I'm with Peeta, Gale is just an imaginary person who I know nothing of. He breaks away from me and smiles. He whispers "I love you" I whisper the same thing back; and to that we walk hand in hand back to our house.

My sleep is filled with horror and murder. The images of Cato and the mutts ripping him to bits lingers in my mind knowing deep down that it will never leave my memory, scarring me for life. Peeta holds me tightly which always helps calm me down. There's something about his strong heartbeat that makes my whole body go quite. When I press my ear against his chest I hear the strength of his heartbeat, and from that point I know life goes on and we have to move on from the things that give us the most pain and regret.

Every week I get a letter from Gale. Him telling me how he is and asking about me and Peeta and our life together. That really pissed me off; him acting like everything's okay. It's like he imagines he didn't leave me to go to district 2 or didn't killed my sister. It makes me want to scream at the world for its cruelty and harshness. The letter always seems to have an ending trying to reassure me that it wasn't his fault he left. Another wonderful reason to want hurt him. He treats me like an object with no feelings. Even though most of the time I acted like that. Yet, he still expects me to come crawling back to him. It doesn't work like that anymore. He is not my best friend and I honestly have no intention of him ever having that title again. I try to think about Cinna and Prim. How both of their presence made me the person I am today. I think of the annoying old cat that Prim loved so very much. She would always tell me how her cat was the only one who didn't judge our family. That our dad was gone, our mom was turning into a mental case and that we were starving almost every single night.

She reminds me of my mother so much. Her long blond hair and her power to heal the sick. Prim was also so different in so many ways. She was strong. Always able to communicate her feelings. Unlike my mother.

Cinna. The one person I have ever known who understood why I hated the capital and the Hunger games so very much. He knew that they treat us like worthless robots that just provide them all there necessities. Nothing else but working monkeys that are powerless against the Capital. His gold eye liner and dark skin made me feel warm inside. I missed him so much. Just the thought of him made me smile. A tear rolls down my face as I wipe it away fast. Thinking that it might make me look weak. Another thing the Hunger games have taken away from me. My emotions. I feel like my mother when I do that. Someone who can't cry or feel anything at all. It's all because of the games, and I will forever hate them for that.

I wake up to Peeta and me hand in hand. I hear a small cry and finally realize it's my little boy. I pick him up and look into his grey eyes. I see innocence and reassurance that I have longed for ever since I got out of that hell hole the capital calls a sporting arena. Peeta loved the name Austin. I loved it too. So we named out precious little baby boy Austin. I feel someone grab my leg and hug it, I look down to find Grace. Her dark hair tied into a braid and her little hands wrapped around my thigh. Her deep blue eyes shoot up at me. I see Peeta when I look at her. Her beauty strikes me as a blessing. I see myself when I gaze into Austin's eyes. He is quiet but extremely smart. I look at both of them with such pride. They give the presence of reassurance that everything is going to be okay; that feeling Peeta gives me. And at that point, I know I made the right decision with Peeta. He gave me everything I wanted. The feeling of being loved that Gale could never have pulled off. The dream of somehow being innocent again. He makes it seem almost like the Hunger games, never really did exist.


End file.
